


And For A Moment

by KatieNuss



Series: For A Moment [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassin!Robin, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieNuss/pseuds/KatieNuss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin makes his first kill, and it's not what he expected it would be. Cheshire offers her insight.</p><p>AU in which, after suffering torture and breaking at the hands of the Light, Dick runs away from his family and his team due to shame. Cheshire takes him under her wing and teaches him another way to live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And For A Moment

**Author's Note:**

> So I have this other story in my head, and in it, there is some Dick and Jade interaction. And I realized upon searching AO3, that there was nothing where these two were the focus. I don't ship them, never would. But I'm now all fascinated by the idea of her taking him in for some reason or another.

The toe of his boot scuffed against the floor as he swung his leg beneath the kitchen stool, leaving a trail in the dust. His other leg was bent at the knee, his thigh pressed against his strong, slender chest. It was the only sound in the room, slowly lulling him to sleep like a lullaby. He desperately wished he could sleep.

“Still awake, are we?” her voice cut through the silence like a knife, falling on his ears and stirring him back into awareness. “I would have thought you’d be in bed by now, little bird. You had a big day today.” Her tone, ever taunting, gave away nothing about her actual mood.

He curled his arms tighter around his bent leg, fingers tightening their grip in the sturdy fabric of his suit. He hadn’t bothered to take it off; he didn’t want to see the scars.

He could only just hear her feather light steps as she moved from the smeared window through which she entered, and into the center of the abandoned apartment where they had been hiding out. It wasn’t the first place since he’d been with her, and it wouldn’t be the last.

He had gotten back hours before her, but the lights were out. She didn’t turn them on, and he didn’t mind. He found solace in the dark, and his eyes had long since adjusted to it. He spent most of his time shrouded in shadows now, trying to hide from the things that kept him up at night. It was easier. He couldn’t see the scars in the dark, and he could hide from all the things he was ashamed and afraid of.

Sometimes he wondered if she was ever afraid.

“What’s the matter, little bird? Not liking the new digs?” she raised a gloved hand to remove the stylized cat mask from her face, her wild black hair falling against her high cheek bones to fill the space it left there. “Too dusty? Too small?” she moved towards him again, placing her mask on his right side, and leaning against it as she lifted his chin with the delicate, calloused fingers of her free hand. Her cold, mischievous cole eyes searched his face.

The tip of her nose was barely an inch from his own, and he could feel the heat of her even breathing puff against his skin. He shifted in discomfort, dropping his gaze to her chin. A significant part of him trusted her for no tangible reason, needed her even. She was his gravity, all he had to ground himself. But he knew what she was capable of. That she didn’t have any real attachments to him. If he lost his usefulness, if he gave her a reason, she’d cut him loose.

“I’m not that Martian girl, kid. I can’t read minds.” Her tone was clipped, and she tapped her thumb against his chin, silently telling him to look her in the eye. She was losing her patients with him and his heart skipped a beat.

“It was different, then I thought it’d be.” He said suddenly, voice barely above a whisper. His eyes flickered upward, and he locked gazes with her, unable to look away despite the shame that was burning at the corners of his eyes. Her shadowed face filled the scope of his vision, and she was inescapable.

He reminded himself to breathe.

“I told you it would be.” Her hand slid from his chin, coming to rest on his knee. Her grip was firm, simultaneously reassuring and unsettling. “Nothing is ever what you think it will be, especially not your first job.”

“I know. I know, it’s just…I didn’t think I’d feel so…” he traced the curve of her thin eyebrows with his eyes, unable to find the words.

“Hollow?” she supplied.

“Yeah,” he exhaled, relieved she knew what it was he meant. Or at least, part of it. He wouldn’t tell her the rest.

“It gets better, goes away.” She stood up, and placed her hands on her hips, rustling the fabric of her kimono. She released him from her gaze and turned away from him. “Given time, everything gets better.”

“Jade—” he quickly dropped his other foot and stood, grabbing her by the wrist. She stopped, looking back at him. The corners of her mouth twitched downward, and he immediately released her. “What if…what if it doesn’t?”

Her lips curled into a smile not unlike the one painted on her mask, sending shivers down his spine. “Then I’ll have to cut you lose, little bird. After all, what good is a Robin that can’t fly?” Soundlessly she moved away from him, and he scrubbed his hands over his face, the scent of drying blood filling his nostrils. He heard the click of the light switch. “What do you want for dinner? Because _I_ was thinking we’d have some take out. Spoil ourselves a little.”

He swallowed the bile that rose in the back of his throat at the smell. “Surprise me, I’m going to take a shower.” He dropped his hands, and opened his eyes, looking down at himself. In the soft light he could more clearly see the black fabric of his second skin, and the red bird that was spread across his chest. Parts of the fabric were darker than the rest.

Arterial blood spatter was messy.

“Dick.” He looked up, and when his vision was blurred he realized he was crying. His breathing hitched and he clenched his hands to try and quell the shaking. “Don’t think. Just move forward.” Empathy flashed across her countenance.

He nodded and before he realized he was doing it, he had fled to the bathroom and stripped himself naked. His fingers slid as he tried to find a grip on the grimy tile and he let his head hang. The cold water beat down on the back of his head and neck and shoulder blades, rinsing the blood and sweat from his skin.

_Don’t think. Just move forward._

But he did think. And he felt hollow, and afraid, and trapped, like he couldn’t breathe, like he was still held down and under an unfriendly knife.

_Don’t think. Just move forward._

He thought about how he got where he is, about the shame of those scars that kept him from ever going home. How he was ashamed that the Light had broken him. That he wasn’t strong enough.

_Don’t think. Just move forward._

He thought about how the reason he felt safe in the shadows was because then the Light couldn’t see him. His family and his team couldn’t see him.

_Don’t think. Just move forward._

But he did think, and a sob forced its way into his throat and he choked on it, and for a moment he didn’t move forward.

**Author's Note:**

> So there's that...  
> I kinda like this verse, and I might add to it in the future (and by that I mean make it more coherent).  
> Let me know what you think,


End file.
